Gentilly Girl- a part of the 99%

Note- (I’ve been very concerned about certain issues in the City that could prove to only deepen the divide between Black New Orleanians and the rest of us. There seems to be a form of “mentality” (termed loosely) that that expresses an air of “entitlement” which excludes all of those others that call themselves Natives or those who see our place as their home. As a descendant of Native French Creoles, Free People of Color, Haitians and Islenos, I am horrified.  As a defender of the United States’ Constitution and the Social Contract I am sick to my soul. Being a child of the Civil Rights Era and all that it promised, I am agast.

The Louisiana Ministerial Alliance of Churches for All People types desire to set up a reverse Apartheid in order to maintain their voice and control. Many of their churches own different types of property, some not in compliance with Law, but it can easily funnel monies into their coffers for their racist war.

This is not what was meant by “Equality”. This nowhere comes close to being a land where we all work together in order to promote the concept of living in Wholeness… )

I have been receiving the New Orleans Agenda for quite some time and could never really get anything much useful out of it. In fact, often I saw it as a racist attack on the non-Black folks of the city.

This came in today via the Agenda. Its an open letter to the Mayor-

“ Dear Mr. Mayor, Let ice water flow through your veins. You have learned many hard earned lessons about the ruthlessness of evil and you are fighting the good fight.
You are protecting the interest and power of a 60% African American electorate against an onslaught of temporary white power created by the elections right after Katrina. This four to three Confederate clique on the city council is an imbalance to the demographics of the city and an anomaly. It will never happen again. The “At large” seats will always be split, one black and one white. Districts B, C, D and E are all likely to return to African American control, but for the next two years you must preserve and defend your ability to insure participation of qualified DBE and African American owned companies in this recovery against this onslaught which is really about denying you that.
Trust that all across America, you are a wonder, and they are the clowns, even though local media which shares the white power agenda avoids touting the amazing work that you and your administration has done, even while under siege. The world is back in New Orleans, and they can see that we are extremely functional, and the cranes are rising.
Sometimes even folk in New Orleans East and the Lower Ninth Ward forget that in preserving their rights to return and rebuild you denied the white power move to turn “our space” into “green space” and you enraged those who didn’t want them back. In insuring the inclusion of the East and lower nine in the recovery, you created a greater challenge for your administration. It would have been easier and perhaps you would be better loved by the children of the Confederacy, but fortunately, your bold and courageous stand has maintained the rights of our people to return to their property and lifestyles and citizenship in our city, and that’s the part that makes the white power people stoop to these constant and petty attacks on your administration that have achieved nothing, except headlines.
If they don’t railroad you into letting them control the contracts, they know you will keep the door open for the development of real wealth and power in the hands of independent African Americans, like you did with the sanitation contracts, and that’s too much freedom (power) for the children of former slaves.
I also appreciate the fact that you cannot run for reelection, but are fighting for our interest anyway.
Lloyd Dennis”

(Lloyd Dennis has city contracts- via Big Red Cotton.)

This guy is a nutcase.
He sees the entire social equation of our city as a group of tribal organizations instead of a coalition of people living under the Social Contract. He wants to divvy up the various neighborhoods to different “tribes” as if the land belonged ONLY to one ethnic group. (the constant revenge killings are the logical outcome of just this sort of skewed thinking- tribal warfare)
I see this as a form of racial segregation from the very group that wished to not be seen as separate from the Whole circa 1955. It is a stepping backwards, not a moving forward. Segregation instead of desegregation. It can only lead to a condition of slow decline and stagnation.  In other words, they dig the ghetto deeper and thereby entrap the young from growth, exploration and expansion of their lives from that of the Past. These young will never be allowed to enter the 21st Century and the promises it makes for one to achieve their God/dess-given possibilities.

This will be the result if we cannot get the City Charter changed to a more equitable power sharing between the City Council and the Mayor’s Administration. For those of us with a more modern mindset the thought of living under a “tribal ruler” is abhorrent. It goes against the spirit of the Constitution. It is treason to the spirit of this country.

We have a derelict property problem and one of non-profit ownership of some properties that does not conform to Federal laws concerning use of said properties. Our society is being “used”.

They scorn and harm the LGBT tribes even though they are your children. They discard that little bit of their culture that actually attempts to achieve something beyond wherefrom they spring. They hate those who escape the mindless lockstep of a culture that is on the edge of the abyss when it comes to it’s demise. They hate the fact that their children chose freedom of thought over the banality of a dead culture.

And lastly for now, the Ministerial Alliance is now going after U.S. Rep. Joe Cao for his vote on the recent Stimulus Bill, even though there wasn’t anything of import for East New Orleans. This is not about the voting, but about the fact that the Ministerial crowd cannot continence the thought of a US Rep that is not Black. This is blatant racism, no question.

They wish a kingdom within the midst of a Republic… this cannot stand. They wish to be seen as Priest-kings ruling their little regions. That is not what this Republic is about. We have no Priest-kings, we have ourselves and our representatives to a government that is responsible to the All, the future and honor of an united Nation. None are left behind but those who choose to remain in the Past.

The Past is just that- the past. This is the 21st Century and it’s time to embrace the hopes and possibilities that are at hand. Living in the 19th Century no longer counts as “living”. We are a polyglot culture that can celebrate our commonality and the specifics that belong to our various cultures. We no longer must separate ourselves from the Whole.

Welcome to the new New Orleans.

Now tell me what you think please?